t$04. Agricuhural IntclUgcncc — Scotland, 113 



Tome cf tht hills, by waiting one or two days till they were turnet! 

 out. Wh'tthcr the fyftcm adopted at the collieries is dcfe6live, or 

 whether tlie xjoUiefs, as a body, can be regulated like other people, 

 is difficult to uctcrnnne ; but the evil to the country at large, and e- 

 f])ccially to the fonantry, by thus detaining men and horfes lb. long, is 

 abundantly notorious, and the caufe merits an invclligation. Perhaps 

 the evil may be traced to the a^l of Parliament which emancipated the 

 colliers — an aft well intended by its fi.'pporters, but, like m^any other 

 pliilanthropical plans, ncitlier calculated to incrcal'e individual happinefs 

 nor public profperity. 



It is much to be wilhed that Govci-nrrt^nt, in the formation of tax-, 

 bills, would employ people qualified to exprefs their meaning in a plain 

 jnanncr, and that previous inquiries were always rtiade at profefllonal 

 people, before fuch bills were pniTed, whether their execution was a 

 praciicablc meafurc. This obfervatioa occurs from contemplating the 

 difficulties attendant upon the income or property a£l of lad feflion, the 

 nwmerous claufes of which few people pretend to underiland j tliougli 

 afluredl}' it was not an impofilble tailc to regulate a five per ctrif. exaclion 

 with clearnefs and precifion. In htk, the trouble and uneafiuefs given ta 

 individuals, is in many inilances of greater importance to them than even 

 the amount of their tax. Take an inilancc^^ — If a farm has been fct for 

 more than feven years, the occupier is called upon to make a return of 

 its prefent value, and if he makes a falfe return, i. e. undervalues the 

 land, he is liable to double duty. Now, as it rarely happens that two 

 people agree refpedting the precife value of land, a tenant may thus be 

 made liable, becaufe he holds an opinion different from others refpedl- 

 ing the premifes in his occupation. Another inftance may be given as 

 a proof of, the degree of wifdom pcfTefred by the framers of the bilL 

 Tenants of houfes are required to make returns of tlieir refpedlive rents, 

 and to pay both their own and the proprietor's tax. Now it happens 

 that the OLCupiirs of more than one half of the houfes in the kingdom 

 >vill not be liable to the tax ; confequently, while nothing is to be got 

 from them as tenarits, the very trouble of aflefling and colledting the 

 proprietors tax (in many inilances the tax will not amount to a couple 

 <if ftiillings) vv'ill exceed the worth of the money fo coUedled, independ- 

 ent of thi.: trouble given to the private individuals concerned. It is be- 

 lieved tiiat a fcnfe of thefc tilings has induced the tax-ofiice, in fome 

 cafes, to allow returns from proprietors ; and certainly they afted wifely 

 in giving fuch permiluon j but it is a poor comphment to the accuracy 

 of tlie bill, that a neccflity arifcs for executing it in a way directly con- 

 trary to the forms and regulations prefcribcd, and in the face of nume- 

 rous penalties. In a word, if a fjne or penalty is due from any per- 

 fon,' It Is from tiie author of a bill which, in one way or other, bids de- 

 liance to the collefled fenfe of the Britilh nation, and is httle better 

 tiiau a fealed book to tlie great body of the people upoii \vl:cm it ii 

 meant to opetate. 



For the information of farmers in Scotland, it may be ftated> that 

 *heir prplits or gain?, by the ly-fth claufe of the bill, ar;: to be rated 



\OL. V, NO. IT. ' H zt 



